On Christmas day, the Bitcoin network achieved an historic milestone, recording an all-time high mining hash rate of 544 exahashes per second. This surge, reflecting a remarkable increase in hash rates since the year’s commencement, echoes the digital asset’s impressive price trajectory, which has soared by 163% since the beginning of the year.
Max Keiser, an influential Bitcoin advocate and advisor to the president of El Salvador, recently took to social media, suggesting an implied hash-adjusted price for BTC that surpasses $400,000. While this sparks speculation about potential price models, the practical implications are exerting increasing pressure on miners grappling with a substantial dip in profitability.
Implied hash-adjusted price for #Bitcoin is now over $400,000 🎄🎁 https://t.co/Bx06T0FSFm
— Max Keiser (@maxkeiser) December 25, 2023
The parallel surge in both hash rates and BTC price presents a paradox for the mining community. A heightened hash rate signifies that miners must intensify their efforts to secure the next block, translating into elevated operational costs and a challenging operational landscape.
Inscriptions hype
However, the euphoria surrounding the record-breaking hash rate is tempered by the hash price, a pivotal metric gauging mining profitability, which has experienced a downturn over the past week. Presently standing at $0.09 per terahashes per second per day, this decline is attributed to a fading interest in the BRC-20 ordinal inscription trend.
The profitability decline is underscored by a significant decrease from the 2023 peak on Dec. 17. This shift in hash price dynamics is a clear reflection of the diminishing enthusiasm surrounding inscription hype, which, in their heyday, led to increased demand and subsequently, elevated transaction fees.
